Photograph
by LovelyInspiration
Summary: "When we open this again 10 years from now, we'll be able to see how far we came and revisit some of our best moments together." /or/ What better way to celebrate four years together than with a time capsule? (A One-Shot for my one year anniversary on Fanfiction; Tag to "The Vanishing")


**One year ago to this day, an enthusiastic girl with a passion for LR and several stories backing up on her computer made an account on Fanfiction. That girl was me, and I'm shocked that I've already been uploading fanfiction for an entire year. It all went by so fast. I'm grateful to have found a hobby that I consider myself to be decent at, and I'm so happy to have interacted with some of the awesome people in this awesome-er fandom. The response to my stories has been incredible, and I love being able to do this. My only regret would have to be that I didn't post more often, but I think that's going to change in this next coming year. Thanks for all the support you've given me through follows, favorites, reviews, and reads! I'm so touched by every email that pops into my inbox! You guys really know how to make me blush :')**

 **If you read the summary, I'm sure you already know this, but I'll reiterate: this is a one-shot dedicated to my first year on fanfiction. I apologize for not giving any forewarning about posting it. As some of you know, I moved recently, but I'm thrilled to say that that is behind me. School still eats up a good deal of my time, but updates to Bound in Brotherhood should start to pick up again. I think I'll be able to post them on a regular schedule - most likely every weekend. During this hiatus of mine, I _have_ still been writing and brainstorming. In fact, I have a one-shot and a two-shot that will be appearing in the archives soon. Keep your eyes peeled for those.**

 **About _this_ story, there are a few things you should know. This is a tag to "The Vanishing", and it takes place toward the end of the episode, between the time when they all went upstairs for dinner and the final scene. **

**Now, without further ado, enjoy the story! I do not own Lab Rats.**

* * *

"Wow, Tasha. That meal was…"

"Horrible?" Perry interjected.

" _No_ ," Donald spat through clenched teeth. "I was going to say 'creative.'"

Tasha lightly slapped her husband on the shoulder.

"Don't listen to them, Tasha. This food was great," Bree said with a smile. She didn't really mean it, but someone in this family had to be tactful.

"Thank you, Honey." Tasha smiled back. "Anyone up for dessert?"

"No!" Everyone yelled simultaneously.

The mother-to-be rolled her eyes. "It's a store-bought chocolate cake."

A chorus of 'ahs' and 'oh's followed.

"Well, in that case, it sounds delicious," Douglas replied.

"I call a corner piece!" Adam quickly exclaimed.

Tasha shook her head, getting up and going into the kitchen. With a little help from Leo, the cake was cut and served. The family reconvened at the table and continued conversing as they ate. It had been a long time since the Davenport-Dooleys were all together, and it was reflected in all the talking, laughing, and joking. The energy in the room was warm and light-hearted.

The bionic teens hadn't been to their Mission Creek home in about a year. It was so nice to return to the place where it all started. Everything was so nostalgic. Despite all that happened with Giselle mere hours ago, the family couldn't have been happier. That experience only brought out the best in them. They were united, had each others' backs, and never gave up. That's who the Davenports were, and they were proud of it.

It had been a good day.

To add to the joy, the family was joined by two new members today – neither of whom was well versed in the vast history of this mansion and all the antics that had ensued. The first new member was Daniel. Adam, Bree, and Chase had another sibling, and the trio was excited to include him in future shenanigans. The second new member (who, in all honesty, wasn't even born yet) was Kira. Donald and Tasha were having their first baby together, and Leo would soon have a little sister. Both individuals were to make great additions to the family.

After finishing dessert, Perry announced that she couldn't stomach being in their presence any longer and headed back to the academy. Everyone was more than happy to let her leave. Tasha later complained about feeling nauseous, so she decided to rest upstairs. Donald persistently offered to come up and help Tasha, but she insisted that she didn't need pampering; it was only an uneasy stomach, she said. Douglas took Daniel down to the lab to show off the technology and tell his son about the family's long back story. That left Donald alone with his four teenage children.

"So… what should we do?" Bree asked.

"Well, I actually have a surprise for you four," Davenport announced. "Be right back."

He excused himself from the table and went down the nearby hallway. Adam, Bree, and Chase shared inquisitive looks, but Leo wore a slight smirk. They heard their father clamoring around for something, and it was making the trio all the more curious. Donald returned minutes later with a large metal chest in his hands. He heaved it onto the table, and it made a _clank_ sound upon connecting with the glass.

Bree raised an eyebrow. "Mr. Davenport, what is that?"

"Uh, it's obviously a big metal box. Keep up, Bree." Adam spoke in a tone that said 'duh.'

His sister rolled her eyes. "I see that, Adam. What I meant was: what are we supposed to do with it?"

"Before I answer that," Donald replied, "Chase, would you tell everyone today's date?"

"Uh… sure." Chase blinked, activating his bionic eye. His vision became filled with equations, algorithms, current news, and the weather. Ignoring the rest, he searched for and found the requested information.

 **Time: 6:23 pm**

 **Date: Wednesday, February 3** **rd** **, 2016**

Chase blinked again, and vision returned to normal. He turned to his adoptive father. "Today is the 3rd."

"Precisely. And Leo and Tasha moved in on the 27th of February, 2012. That means…"

"Today is practically the four year anniversary of us meeting!" Leo exclaimed.

"Really?" Adam's face contorted as he tried to make sense of the math.

Chase placed a gentle hand on his older brother's forearm. "Don't hurt yourself."

"Leo, you're right!" Bree grinned from ear-to-ear. "I guess it's fitting that we're all back here together."

"Such being the case, Leo wanted to do something special with you guys. So, I suggested a time capsule," Donald explained. He saw Adam's features light up, so he added, "No, Adam, it does not mean we're travelling through time."

The oldest bionic visibly deflated. "Well, that's disappointing."

"So, what's a time capsule, then?" Bree asked.

"Care to explain, Leo?" Davenport gestured to his step-son.

Leo stood from his chair and joined his step-father in front of the table. "Well, what you do is get a sturdy container – such as this metal box – and fill it with valuable items. These would be items that shaped some part of your life or represent you perfectly – you know, all that symbolic jazz. Then, you bury the box and dig it up when a certain amount of time has passed. Normally the timeframe is several years. I was thinking 10."

"What's the purpose of that?" Adam wondered.

Leo shrugged. "It benefits the person more in the future than in the present. You get to look back on old memories and see how far everyone's come since that time. So, when we open this again 10 years from now, we'll be able to see how far we came and revisit some of our best moments together."

The bionic siblings shared contemplative glances. Leo held his breath. He was coming off as composed so far, but in truth, he was super anxious. This time capsule was something he wanted to do for a long time. It mattered to him a lot whether or not his siblings liked the idea.

Finally, after painfully long seconds, smiles broke out onto the faces of the trio.

Bree was the first to speak. "I really like that."

"Me too," Adam agreed.

"Wait… I have a question. This was an impromptu trip; how were you and Leo able to plan this so quickly?" Chase questioned.

"We've been working on this idea for a while. Even before the situation with Giselle, I was planning on bringing you guys back to Mission Creek for a little visit. Since we ended up coming sooner than expected, Leo figured we could do this early."

"Mr. Davenport, this is such a cool idea," Bree praised.

"You should be thanking Leo. He was the one that wanted to do something special. I just supplied the idea."

Chase turned to his oldest younger brother. "Thanks, Leo."

Leo put on a cocky grin. "Hey, great ideas are what I do."

"Where are we supposed to find stuff to put in here?" Bree inquired.

"This is your childhood house. I'm sure if you guys take some time to search the mansion, you'll find something special," Donald said.

"It can only be one item, though," Leo reminded them. "Remember: it has to be special to _you,_ not anyone else."

Donald clapped his hands together. "Well then, I'll leave you four alone to begin."

* * *

It took a few hours, but everyone finally found an item for the time capsule. Up until now, no one knew what everyone else's items were. They met back in the dining room, all crowded around the old metal chest. The four teens had their treasures hidden to rest of the group.

"So, who goes first?" Bree asked.

"Whoever," Leo answered.

Adam shrugged. "I will."

Everyone nodded, and the attention turned fully to him. He pulled a stuffed elephant from behind his back. Bree and Chase's faces lit up with surprise, but Leo just looked confused.

"Do you remember this, Chase?" Adam asked.

"Ugh, Adam, why'd you have to bring that out? It's embarrassing…"

"Not to me. To me, it's special."

"What's the story behind this?" Leo gestured to the elephant.

"Well," Adam began, "When we were really young, Chase would get scared a lot. Sometimes thunderstorms or the loud machines in the lab disturbed his super hearing. So, one day, Mr. Davenport gave him this stuffed animal to help him sleep at night. Chase fell in love with it and had it wherever he went; it calmed him down or something. On this one night, he couldn't find Einstein-"

"Wait," Leo interrupted. "Einstein?"

"That's what Chase named the elephant."

Leo tried to respect that, but he couldn't help the few chuckles that escaped.

Chase cheeks turned red. "Hey! In defense of my six-year-old self, Einstein is a great name!"

" _Anyway,_ back to the story. Chase wasn't able to find Einstein, so he went to bed without him for the first time in like two years. There was a storm that night. He got scared, and so I let him sleep with me in my capsule. The next morning we found Einstein, but Chase didn't want him anymore. You know why?"

Leo was on the edge of his seat, but Chase buried his face in his hands, too humiliated to watch his brother finish the story.

Adam smiled, reminiscing on what a great moment that was. "He told me that he didn't need Einstein anymore, because he had me – and he knew I could protect him much better than Einstein could." To the surprise of everyone, including Adam, his eyes got a bit watery.

* * *

" _But Chasey, you love Einstein…"_

" _Eh, you can have him. Last night, you helped me a lot more dan Einstein ever did. I don't need 'im anymore. I got you, Adee. And you'll always protect me… right?"_

" _I'll always try, Chasey."_

* * *

Sobs broke out of Leo's throat, and he started to cry rather dramatically. "Th-that is s-so sw-eet…"

"Leo, calm down," Bree said with a half amused, half curious face. She began to rub his shoulder comfortingly.

"Adam, why do you insist on telling that story?" Chase asked with exaggeration, ignoring Leo's weeps in the background.

"Because that was the moment when I figured out my job as the oldest. I need to protect you guys. I _want_ to protect you guys. That's why he's going in the time capsule. No matter if 10 or 20 or 30 years passes, I'll still be protecting you guys."

Chase's expression softened from frustration to appreciation. "Wow… That's really nice, Adam. I didn't realize how much that meant to you. I'm sorry I gave you a hard time about it."

"I don't take many things seriously, Chase, but out of the things I do, my family is number one." He put the stuffed animal in the chest.

Bree smiled. "We're fortunate to have a big brother like you, then."

The trio hugged, and Leo cried harder.

"Oh, get over here, you big cry baby," Chase joked, waving his brother over.

Leo smiled through the tears, joining the embrace. Once everyone was broken apart, they took a couple minutes to regain their composure. Leo took that time to steady his breathing and dry his eyes. When all was calm again, each head turned to Bree.

Bree glanced around for a second before taking the hint. "Okay, so, I guess I'm next." She took a deep breath. Then she brought her hand forward to reveal a plastic bag filled with broken metal pieces. "These are all the pieces of my chip that we could find after I… destroyed it."

The reappearance of the broken chip doused the room in a serious mood.

"Uh, wow…" Chase mumbled. "Bree, I didn't know you even had that."

"Why _do_ you have it?" Leo asked.

In spite of the solemn atmosphere, Bree cracked a small smile. "At the time when I did this, I wasn't thinking about anything or anyone but myself. Then… then I realized how much I messed up. Our team is more important than anything, and I don't ever want to forget that. So, I'm putting this in here with the hopes that, 10 years from now, I'll still remember how fortunate I am."

With that said, she dropped the bag in the chest.

* * *

" _I was just thinking about me instead of us. We're a family, and I was being selfish, and I'm really sorry. I want back in."_

* * *

"We're fortunate, too, Bree. We've got you," Adam admitted.

Bree's smile got bigger and warmer. "Thank you, Adam," she said, surprise slightly coloring her tone. "I didn't expect such maturity."

Adam grimaced. "I've spent too much time with Chase. His boringness rubbed off on me."

"And there's the Adam we all know and love," Chase replied with a sarcastic bite, briefly glaring at his brother.

Leo chuckled. "Speaking of you, Chase, it's your turn."

Chase nodded. He pulled something out of his pocket and held it out for everyone to see.

"A tape recorder?" Bree creased her eyebrows.

"Yea. You guys didn't know about this, but I had this with me in Antarctica. After I got trapped under the avalanche, I did a mission log on this thing every hour for three hours."

"What's special about it, then?" Leo wondered.

"It reminds me of that day. I always worried about not being an important asset to the team, but I didn't anymore after that day. I realized that I was capable of just as much as Adam and Bree and that a team sticks together no matter what. Also, I also mentioned something about each one of you on the tape. I wasn't sure if those would be my last words, so I wanted at least some of them to be meaningful."

"What did you say?" Adam pried.

Chase smirked, placing the tape recorder in the box. "Maybe in 10 years I'll play it for you guys. Hopefully by then I'll have reached my full potential."

* * *

" _Even if you could offer me every ability there is, I would never go to your side. We're a team, and teams never quit on each other."_

* * *

"I'll tell you, Chase… that was a scary day. But, I, personally, developed a bigger respect for you." Leo patted his brother on the arm.

"Me too," Bree agreed.

"So did I."

Chase glowered at Adam. "It obviously didn't last. You still throw me around!"

"You make it too easy!" Adam defended.

"Okay, break it up, you two," Bree interjected. "If we let this go on any longer, you'll be brawling in mere minutes." The two boys pouted but didn't say anything else. Bree saw that her point was made. "Good. Now, I believe Leo is the last person left to go."

"Okay." He sighed, releasing any last minute nerves. The youngest of the group took a picture out of his back pocket and showed it off. "This is what I'm putting in."

Adam, Bree, and Chase crowded around each other to get a better look. It was a Polaroid picture of the four of them from nearly four years ago; they were standing side-by-side. The four teens in the picture were much younger, much more naïve, much more inexperienced, but just as happy as the current teens. They were smiling in the picture, and they smiled now. They seemed to be smiling a lot today. It was nice.

"I remember that," Bree mumbled.

"Didn't we take this right after Davenport told us we could stay in Mission Creek?" Chase recalled.

Leo nodded.

"That was the best day ever," Adam said.

"Because we got to stay together?" Bree guessed.

"No," he replied simply. "Because we almost got crushed at the recycling place. But, yea, I guess the staying together thing, too."

Leo playfully shook his head. "Moving here was the best thing that ever happened to me. _Getting siblings like you guys_ was the best thing that ever happened to me. It affected my life in ways I never imagined. All I ask of the next 10 years is that we still be together when we open this box."

* * *

" _Come on, guys – get together! We have to take a picture to capture the moment!"_

" _What's that, Leo?"_

" _A Polaroid camera."_

" _Cool. It's so retro."_

" _Okay, Adam, you get on that side. Then Bree, you come over here. And Chase… okay that's perfect. Say cheese!"_

Click.

" _That came out great."_

" _I look so cute!"_

" _Selfish much, Bree?"_

" _You know, guys, I think we're gonna have a lot of great times in the future."_

* * *

"I have no doubt that we'll still be together in 10 years, Leo," Bree assured him.

"That's why I'm putting this picture in here." He gently placed the photograph in the chest and finally closed the lid, sealing the container.

The room was filled with a comfortable silence for several minutes.

After a moment of quiet, Adam finally broke the peace. "So, where do we bury it?"

"Out in the backyard?" Bree suggested.

Her brothers voiced their agreement. As Adam, Bree, and Chase were about to head that way, Leo stopped them.

"Wait, guys! I just want to say one more thing." The expectant looks he received let him know that he had their attention. "I just wanted to say… thanks – for being so welcoming. I admit that I was scared about moving here. Even when I did meet you guys, I wasn't sure if I'd ever have the relationship that you had with each other. I thought I would be an outsider because I wasn't technically part of them family…"

Chase frowned. "You're a part of the family either way, Leo. Being blood related isn't as important as being helpful and selfless. A family is a group of people that care about each other, not a group of people with the same last name."

"And nobody cares about you more than we do," Adam added.

Leo grinned. "Thanks guys."

"Shall we bury this time capsule now?" Bree recommended.

"We shall."

"Ooh ooh ooh! Can I dig the hole?" Adam was as eager as a young child. Then again, he was always like that. His family hoped he never changed.

"Sure, Buddy," Leo replied, eliciting a celebratory air fist-pound from his goofy older brother.

The group then went out to bury their best memories – together. Whatever they did, it was always done together, because they were a team. That team always looked out for their own and others. They always had room for one more. They always kept going when the going got tough. They always stood by each other. They created new meaning to the word Davenport; it transcended being merely a last name. When you're a "Davenport", you're a fighter; a friend; a hero. The Davenports were always together, even when they were apart. There's no better family than that.

* * *

 **In my opinion, this could've been way better :L. However, I was on a time crunch (I got the idea last-minute, and I only had a few days to write it.) Perhaps I'm just being a perfectionist or my own worst critic, but I usually like to take a couple weeks to refine the story. Oh well - they can't all be winners. I just wanted to make sure that I got something posted for my anniversary. I hope you didn't suffer too much when reading this xD**

 **I hope you're not choking on the overdose of cheesy family fluff jam-packed into this one-shot. If not, reviews are appreciated! I want to know your opinions on this time-capsule concept. It took me forever to decide what each character would put in, but I think it worked out. Do you think the items well-reflected them? I was hoping they would.**

 **Anyway, I just want to say thanks again to all of you for making this a fantastic year :D**


End file.
